The Relation between Formal Procedures for Pursuing OR/MS Activities and OR/MS Group Success

Rodney D. Neal and Michael Radnor
Additional contact information
Rodney D. Neal: University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas
Michael Radnor: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Operations Research, 1973, vol. 21, issue 2, 451-474

Abstract: This paper examines the relation between the formalization of OR/MS procedures and OR/MS group success in more man 100 large US industrial organizations. The research gathered evidence on the existence of a formal charter for the OR/MS group and on the use of formalized project procedures. After developing an idealized set of ten procedural phases for projects, we used them as a guide in determining the degree of procedural elaboration followed by each OR/MS group. We recorded various measures of success and used them to show a strong correlation between proceduralization and success, in terms of these measures. We examined the effects of several other behavioral and environmental variables on this relation: the orientations of the OR/MS manager, top-management behavior, OR/MS-group age and size, and OR/MS diffusion within the organization. Finally, we note the possibility that proceduralization may be either, or both, a cause or an indicator of OR/MS success.

Date: 1973
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.21.2.451 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:oropre:v:21:y:1973:i:2:p:451-474

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Operations Research from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().